piglets for sale

A year ago I didn't even eat pork. Well, not deliberately. I just didn't tend to buy it.

Now I don't know a great deal, but I reckon I know how to raise a pig.

I know they're pregnant for exactly three months, three weeks and three days. (As long as you, *cough*, know when they were mated.)

I know what they like to eat and how fast they can plough through kikuyu grass.

I know what kind of fence keeps them in and if Adam is trying to catch one it's always good to have a camera handy.

Our shoates (newly weaned pigs) are ready for the big wide world of free range farming. On Friday two are going to a nearby farm to dig up a brand new biodynamic market garden. Two are staying here to be raised for a favourite neighbour with two more that we'll keep for sale.

Being a humble novice pig farmer I have no advice except to say raising pigs is pretty simple and home grown pork is something you have to try once in your life. If you have the space and the inclination, pigs are excellent. We recommend not naming them. We've accidentally got an Uncle Pig and a Mummy Pig and we regret it. We particularly never should have (accidentally) named Uncle.

The stark farming reality is that Uncle Pig is going to have, as Joel Salatin says, One Very Bad Day next week. Although our pigs are carefully transported by Adam and processed at a small local abattoir so the end is as humane as we can achieve.

And they've lived such a rambolling life in the paddocks here.

We have a few piglets left for sale. If you're local and interested, send me an email.

They're Large White/Berkshire/something unidentified cross, six weeks old and fast as greased lightening. Be quick!

Penny Hannah

June 27, 2012 at 5:23 am

Could one come airmail to Scotland, please? NOT cattle class though. I’m very partial to pigs, whether they be turning over the ground or turning up on a large plate on the dinner table. Wont all those apples will come in useful?

JustJoyful

June 27, 2012 at 9:39 am

Once again, you have made me laugh out loud. And Emma – love that country practicality!

Me, I think I’d be in trouble once the piglets developed personalities (or at least enough that I could tell them apart), regardless of whether I named them. But I would still enjoy those lovely pork chops!

I wish! I’m working on Daddy Eco so I know i’ll get them one day. But at this stage the pigs are after the Chickens and after a pair of Dexter Milking Cows. Little Eco is now having regular horse riding lessons so they’ll probably be after the pony too. Am starting to think we should have bought a bigger place 😉

lovely! our 2 large black/wessex saddleback crosses will be processed in 4-6 weeks. Luckily though we have a mobile butcher (we’re keeping all the meat for ourselves) so they won’t even have to leave their paddock. The downside is I will be on hot water and scrubbing duty, but it seems a small price to pay for meat I can eat with a clear conscience. I’ve raised them with care, fed the finest apples, chestnuts, acorns and veg from the greengrocer scrap bucked (did you know that they LOVE bananas??), given daily tummy and back scratches, warm straw nests to sleep in and an acre of ground to run into a mosh pit 🙂

Andrea

June 27, 2012 at 9:17 pm

Went to a salon today (just for a facial) and lay there thinking of you the entire time. Did not fall asleep (came close twice, though) and left with underwear dry and firmly in place. Thanks for sharing your hilarious take on things!